Chapter 37 Not only the grain bankbook, but also the big melon
In the next few days, Qin Ju was busy with planting and running in and out with Professor Zhong. Seeing that Zhang Yuehong neither went to the bathroom to find her nor came home, she guessed that she had become cold-hearted and didn't want to think about getting married and having children anymore, so she didn't take it to heart.
Until this point, she had assumed, based on the information provided by Aunt Zhang, that Zhang Yuehong's illness made her infertile.
That day, just after dinner, Qin Jue, who rarely had to go to the fields, was watching Qin Pan doing his homework in the house.
"Third sister, when do you think your brother-in-law will come back? Zhao Haiyang's father next door has been back for several days." Qin Pan bit the tip of the pencil, missing her third brother-in-law who was always gentle and kind.
Qin Ju was indeed a little anxious these days. They were two people who went together, but why did one come back several days later and the other one was still missing? She had the nerve to ask Zhao Qingsong, but he just said that Xiao He had something else to do and would be back after finishing it.
Judging from the tone, it doesn't sound like an accident.
Qin Ju suppressed his doubts and tapped the little girl on the head, "How many times have I told you not to bite the tip of a pencil?"
The little girl started school late, and was in the third grade at the age of ten, but she knew quite a few words. She had almost finished reading the junior high school math, physics and chemistry textbooks lent to her by her third brother-in-law, and when she came across words she didn't know, she would look them up in the dictionary and mark the pinyin herself.
Qin Ju pointed to some very unfamiliar words and asked her questions. Not only could she pronounce them correctly, she could also tell their meanings. Qin Ju had taught children before and knew that it was incredible for a child of her age to have such a large vocabulary.
"The little girl will definitely be a top student in the future."
"What is a top student?"
Qin Ju was about to explain when Doudou on the kang hummed twice. Qin Ju quickly picked her up and rocked her twice with an "oh oh oh". The little girl's eyes, which were about to open, slowly closed again, and after a few seconds, she fell asleep again.
Doudou is really a very easy child to take care of. He is now over five months old and can sleep through the night perfectly. He can continue to sleep for an hour or so after waking up by simply coaxing him. He will not make a sound unless he is hungry.
*
On the other side, in Director Li’s office, Secretary Gong and several deputy directors were chatting with a cup of tea each.
"Did Xiao He really say that?" Secretary Gong was very surprised. He blew the tea without paying attention and burned his mouth with the tea.
"This mission was accomplished very well. Let's ask him what kind of reward he wants. You know, he should be promoted two levels this time. Mr. Chen has also asked me for someone, but regarding his parents' problem, we have already sent a letter of inquiry, but there has been no response from the Beidahuang Farm. If we openly promote him, the people in the Revolutionary Committee will make trouble if they find out."
So the leadership team asked him if he wanted any reward. His salary and title could not be increased, and he could not go to Chen's laboratory openly, but everyone would help as long as they could.
"He really doesn't want anything but to transfer his household registration?"
"right."
Therefore, everyone felt that Comrade Xiao He had a pure heart, which was precious. He used the merits earned at the cost of his life just to exchange for two quotas for non-agricultural workers to convert from farmers to non-agricultural workers. Even Zhao Qingsong would frown when hearing about this stupid thing, but he still did it!
*
In the family area, the two sisters were talking about recent news. "What are you talking about?" A familiar male voice suddenly came from the door.
"Third brother-in-law!"
He Liansheng still looked the same as before, even his hair length had not changed, and he was carrying a military green travel bag in his hand.
Qin Pan was very happy, thinking that the travel bag contained gifts for everyone, just like the last time her third sister went to the provincial capital. She quickly took the bag and prepared to distribute the gifts.
However, there were only two pieces of clothing and books inside, all of which were in foreign languages. She couldn't understand them no matter how hard she tried to read them, and the little spark in her eyes was immediately extinguished.
He Liansheng was a little confused as to why she was disappointed. He was so hungry that the first thing he did when he came back was not to go back to his own home, but to come here. He took two steps towards the kitchen and suddenly saw the white and glutinous little ball on the kang. He suddenly realized that he had a child!
He quickly turned around and looked at the child.
Qin Ju: “?” You are really good enough!
"You've grown so big?" He stammered, not sure whether he was surprised or happy. Anyway, he didn't look like his usual stable self.
Looking at this little face, it was a little fatter than when I left home, its skin was pink and white, and it had grown a lot taller... I looked at it from top to bottom twice before I tentatively reached out my hand, wanting to hug it.
In fact, before he went on a business trip, he often held the child in his arms, washed the diapers, and cleaned the bottles. Apart from not being able to feed the child or put the child to sleep, he did a lot of things. But now that this grown-up lady has grown up, he feels like he dare not hold her lightly.
Qin Ju: “…”
The father-daughter relationship that had just been cultivated was diluted by the business trip.
Qin Ju simply picked up the child and stuffed him into his arms, "Take him with you. I have something to go out for."
Give Qin Pan a look and leave.
He Liansheng felt his whole body stiffen. What he was holding in his arms was not a girl, but a bomb!
Doudou was sleeping now, his eyelids twitching, and it was obvious that he was about to wake up. He was stiff, and shook lightly twice, and his mind made the sound of a wife coaxing a child, "Oh oh——"
It really works!
Xiao He uttered “Oh oh” twice as if he had discovered a new continent, and Doudou fell into an even deeper sleep.
So this is how you coax a child! He couldn't help but show his teeth, like a clockwork alarm clock, or like a tireless donkey, holding him, rocking him gently, saying "oh oh", and walking...
Of course, Qin Ju didn't actually leave, she went to the kitchen. The dish was the leftover fried eggs with shrimps, which they had originally saved for the porridge tomorrow morning, but now there was no staple food left, so she simply gave him the noodles.
But before cooking the noodles, I looked around the kitchen. I found that I had everything except carrots. I washed and peeled three carrots, scraped out the core, cut the carrot flesh into thin strips, minced some garlic, added a spoonful of old vinegar, and drizzled a little sesame oil on top. Then a big bowl of cold shredded carrots was ready. When the noodles were cooked and the skins were heated, the shredded carrots were already marinated and very tasty. They were sour and sweet, and very appetizing.
"Stop hugging me and eat quickly."
"If I put her down, will she... wake up?"
Qin Ju looked at the time. It was still too early to wake up. "Be gentle. I won't."
So, Mr. He performed another bullet-dismantling scene.
The shredded carrots are so sour and refreshing. He Liansheng pairs one chopstick of noodles with two or three chopsticks of shredded carrots, which are crunchy.
Qin Pan didn't like carrots at first, but seeing her third brother-in-law eating them so happily, she also picked up a pair of chopsticks to taste them. It didn't matter that she tasted them, she even squinted her eyes and said they were delicious.
"Wuwu Third Sister, this is so delicious. I want to eat this tomorrow too."
Qin Ju tapped her on the forehead and said, "Okay, you need to go to bed so eat less. I'll make you some with chili tomorrow. It will be more delicious."
"Eat slowly, there's more in the pot." Qin Jue picked up another bowl of noodles for He Liansheng, "Did you have a smooth trip this time?"
"It went well. We should be able to have some peace for a while."
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Qin Ju didn't ask what was going on. He guessed that he wouldn't talk about something that hadn't been concluded yet. If he was really curious, he could just pay more attention to the factory's developments in the next few days and he would know.
After eating, he went to wash the dishes by himself. He didn't let Xiao Qinpan help him and let her read a book by herself.
If someone wants to take the initiative to work, Qin Ju will definitely not stop him, but will encourage him in an exaggerated way: "Wow, I didn't expect you can actually wash the pot, and wash it so cleanly!"
Of course, it's not an exaggeration. He indeed scrubbed the pot more diligently than the old lady. Not only did he scrub the inside, he also scrubbed the outside that was burnt by the flames until it was shiny black. In the end, he even scrubbed the handle of the pot. The gaps and corners that Qin Pan occasionally forgot about were also scrubbed clean, and he also tightened the loose screws.
"It's something we do all the time in the army."
"You're not in the kitchen."
"When we are on a mission, we are self-reliant." He paused, "I only know how to wash the pot, and my comrade-in-arms knows how to cook, and he is very skilled."
Qin Ju deliberately said with envy: "Then your comrade's wife must be very happy. If it were me, I would wake up laughing in my sleep."
He Liansheng raised his eyebrows and looked at her.
Just when Qin Ju was wondering what he was going to say, he suddenly stood up and took out a bunch of things from his travel bag. "Here, keep them."
Well, there were two small notebooks, one of which was a green cardboard cover. Qin Jue was very familiar with it. It was exactly the same as her elder sister's compensation passbook. She flipped it open and found the column behind the latest withdrawal, which contained all the current balances in the account... Her pupils trembled!
It’s as much as 1,160 yuan!
She read it twice more to make sure she had read it correctly. She also realized that this passbook only allowed deposits but no withdrawals. Deposits were made every six months, with varying amounts but always in integers. However, no withdrawals had ever been made so far. "Is this what you have saved over the years you have been working?"
"Yeah." For some reason, he actually hoped to get a few compliments.
However, as he waited, he saw his wife's brows relax as she looked at the passbook, and she smiled at him without saying a word. Why did her smile make him feel a little uncomfortable?
He touched the back of his head to make sure he had done nothing wrong. "Put it away after you're done reading it."
Qin Ju pouted, feeling extremely soft inside. "Why are you in such a hurry? I haven't finished reading it yet." She picked up another small plastic notebook with a red background and yellow characters.
This is a bread and butter.
The food book of that era is no different from the household registration book, it is the most important thing in the whole family. It can even be said to be more important than the household registration book, because it is related to the food supply of the whole family, whether they can eat enough, whether they can eat meat, whether they can eat side dishes, whether they can have cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, tea and dried fruits during festivals...all are written in this small book.
Because of the nature of their work, the food supply standard for her and Lao He is not low, 42 kilograms per person per month, and 1.3 ounces of cooking oil per person per month. It is enough for two people to eat, but for grandma and Qin Pan... It seems that they will have to increase some extra income in the future.
Qin Ju thought so and was about to put the grain book away, but Qin Pan had sharp eyes and suddenly exclaimed "Ouch".
"Third sister, grandma's name is on it!"
Qin Ju opened the food book again and saw her grandmother's name behind her. She flipped further and saw Qin Pan's name as well.
"Third sister, grandma and I are both upstairs, so grandma and I are both residents?"
Although she was still young, she knew about the difference between agricultural household registration and urban household registration. Simply put, not only do resident households not have to pay public grain and task pigs, but after adulthood they can also be assigned jobs by the street office and neighborhood committee. Even if they don't have a stable job, they can have commercial grain supply and can work as temporary workers in formal units to earn money!
It can be said that in the eyes of most farmers, having an urban hukou in this era is a win-win situation. "Third sister, you don't know that many of my classmates are still rural hukou."
The custom in Shilan Province is that children's household registration follows their mother, so there are many situations where the father has an urban household registration or a collective household registration, but the mother and children are all rural households. Even if they move here, there is no commercial food to eat, and it is almost harder than climbing to the sky to convert from agricultural to non-agricultural!
Qin Ju remembered that she was still a rural household registration throughout her life until her death, and she was unable to change her status at first. Zhao Qingsong didn't want to give people a reason to criticize her for using backdoors, so she didn't care about it anymore as time went by... After all, in many places today, rural household registration is still more popular than urban household registration.
From now on, grandma won’t have to feel guilty for adding one more drop of oil when cooking or eating one more bite of rice, because she already has 30 kilograms of commercial grain and one kilogram of oil every month!
Qin Pan is still an elementary school student, and her monthly food allowance is 27 kilograms, and her cooking oil is the same as that of adults, which is one kilogram. Even if Qin Ailan does not eat and drink with them, the four of them still have 141 kilograms of food and 4.6 ounces of cooking oil per month...which is more than enough!
Not only is there enough to eat, but they are also better off than 99% of the families in their hometown. Not to mention that if Qin Guihua grows some fruits and vegetables, her life will be very comfortable this year.
Qin Ju felt more comfortable than getting a passbook. The money would eventually run out, but the change in the household registration of grandma and Qin Pan would benefit them for the rest of their lives.
"How did my third brother-in-law do it? My classmate said it was very difficult."
He Liansheng felt the hot gaze on him, which came from his wife's happiness. He knew he had done the right thing, so he frankly explained: "It's the reward for my mission this time."
It turned out that this time he followed Zhao Qingsong to recover the stolen equipment from the factory. Because he could speak foreign languages, after finding the man, he followed the clues to find the man's lair and accomplices, and unexpectedly uncovered a foreign force gang lurking in Shilan Province. In addition to Factory 412, the victims also included several other units of the same confidential nature, even the high-quality grain seeds that were still under development by the neighboring Military Regiment... The interrogation lasted for a long time, and the amount of things he helped to dig out was astonishing.
The province and the factory were very happy and wanted to reward him and Zhao Qingsong. Zhao Qingsong put the matter of converting the deputy battalion commander to a regular battalion back on the agenda. However, He Liansheng's request was simple: no promotion, no salary increase, and no bonus - he just wanted to help Grandma Qin and his younger sister-in-law to convert from farmers to non-farmers.
The reason why he came back today was actually because he was waiting to do this. He even went back to Wulitun on the way and did not come back until he got the grain capital.
"Fool." His heart felt both sour and sweet, and his chest seemed to be filled with marshmallows. Qin Jue thought that he must be addicted to glutenous candy, otherwise why would he like something as soft and sweet as marshmallows!
He Liansheng had a blank expression on his face, thinking to himself: How come these two words sound a bit sweet?!
After a while, Qin Guihua came back from her private plot. She was so happy to hear about the conversion of agricultural land into non-agricultural land that tears came out. However, after a while of being happy, she became worried again, "What about our house in Wulitun? Will the production team confiscate it?"
"No, my eldest sister's household registration is still there."
Qin Guihua finally breathed a sigh of relief. Ailan had food and drink at the Chen family, and the residents didn't give her much in return. Xiao He was indeed thoughtful and mature in his work.
"Then you went to help us check the house, okay?"
Qin Ju smiled, "Oh, grandma, don't worry. He went there once when he first arrived, and again before he left. Brother Liao is taking care of it for us. He's doing very well. He even helped us to pick up the tiles, paved a bluestone path in the yard, and planted watermelons in the corners of the wall."
Qin Guihua was now completely relieved. "He still refuses to give up and is still researching the watermelon?"
He Liansheng nodded. People in the village said that this educated youth was very stubborn.
"However, a lot of things happened in my hometown in the past two years." For example, Liu Dahu's wife ran away with someone, and people only then realized that the three fat boys were not his children. The Liu family had raised their grandchildren for several years in vain.
For example, Widow Liu was diagnosed with early-stage liver cancer last month. Her older grandsons refused to allow her to seek treatment and simply took her back to the village on a flatbed truck to die.
Qin Guihua had fought with Widow Liu all her life, and now she couldn't help but sigh when she heard that she had ended up like this.
"If you ask me, she failed in her education. She has brought up all her grandchildren in the wrong way." If there was one who walked the right path, one who had a conscience, she would not have returned to the village to wait for death.
"These wicked people, they don't even think about how their grandmother raised them for so many years, really, really..." Widow Liu sold her □□ in exchange for food to feed her children, she hated it, but what were those hunters and old bachelors who came to find Widow Liu? They used all kinds of tricks to torture a woman.
How could the Liu family's grandchildren not know this? They feel quite at ease enjoying their grandma's "hard-earned money".
Qin Ju didn't want her grandmother to be too sad, so she dropped a bombshell: "Liu Jiawei has been sentenced to death."
The former brother-in-law Liu Jiawei was not sentenced to death. He was thinking about marrying his mistress He Xiaohong after he was released from prison. However, He Xiaohong used his money to have an affair with someone else and got pregnant. She also wanted him to be a cuckold... That would have been fine, but the person who had an affair with He Xiaohong was not someone else, but his dear father...
This kind of backstabbing was even more difficult for him to accept than when Qin Ailan took the compensation and sold her job as divorce compensation. This bastard who seemed to be advising him to live a good life with Xiaohong after he was released from prison and to give her an explanation and not let her wait in vain, but was secretly cheating on him, was none other than his father!
Old Lady Liu never thought that after working so hard for the Liu family for so many years, the old man Lin Lao would dare to find a lover. She was so angry that she couldn't breathe and had a stroke. Her two daughters-in-law and daughter-in-law, whom she had always loved like a treasure, ignored her and made a fuss about splitting up the family and breaking off the relationship. The whole Liu family broke up.
When Liu Jiawei found out about this, he was so angry that he ran out one night in the dead of night and burned his father and his lover to death.
Qin Guihua sighed, "What the hell is going on!" It's a pity that her Ailan had to waste so many years of her youth in such a family. It was simply a shame in her life.
Qin Ju finally understood in her heart why, for so many years in her previous life, no one around her had ever doubted whether Liu Jiawei could have children. It was because everyone thought that the two children looked like him and must be his biological children. However, they did not expect that those who looked alike might not necessarily be sons and daughters, but could also be brothers and sisters!
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